San Diego Politics Blog

The Pomerado Newspaper Group has the skinny on a race to be the "honorary mayor" of Rancho Bernardo.

The election involves selling tickets (proceeds going to benefit charities) which are akin to votes.

The candidate who sells the most tickets becomes the honorary mayor and on Election Night they draw tickets for a raffle to award prizes to some of those who participated.

Read more about this nifty system they’ve had in place since 1991 here.

Alot of attention has been focused on 2 things in the campaign for the 50th.

1) The Bilbray-Busby back and forth bashing and how the campaign will play out as the two muddy each other up.

2) The "will he or won’t he run" questions facing Eric Roach. 

But what may also emerge as an interesting factor in this race will be the role Democrat Chris Young might play.

Unlike the 18-candidate herd that stampeded through the precincts of the 50th on April 11th, on June 6th there will only be 1 or 2 serious Republican candidates, Francine Busby as the leading Democrat and then the questionmark candidate, Chris Young.

If Bilbray hits Busby enough, can Young find a niche with local Democrats?  Can Young attract the votes of disaffected Republicans if Busby seriously wounds Bilbray, but Roach decides NOT to run on June 6th?

Or will Young be forever marginalized by the establishment of the Democrat Party?

On her campaign website Chris Young says she is "left of the neocons" but also "right of the liberals"

The question:  will Young make a serious effort to raise the money to have a voice in this campaign, or will she merely be a protest vote limited to issuing public statements and appearing in rare interviews with the local media?

Republican 2nd place finisher, Eric Roach, is thinking about shooting for a first place finish on June 6th.

Roach has spent the past several days in Washington, D.C. with his advisors, blogger Jon Fleischman and 50th district candidates Bill Hauf and Howard Kaloogian.

Jon Fleischman’s been blogging about this like a roadie/groupie getting to sing live on stage with his/her favorite band.  Read all the various threads here.

George Will is less giddy, but still interested in the soap opera that is the race for the 50th.  You can read his column "Political Stew in San Diego" here.